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How-To Geek

Update: If you have VMware Workstation version 5.5.3, you will want to follow the updated guide. If you are using version 5.5.2 or below, continue on.

Ubuntu continues to evolve, and the pre-compiled vmware tools just don’t have the time to adapt. This makes it a little more difficult to install, but not impossible.

The first thing that is important is that you will need to know is that you have to install the compilation utilities, which aren’t installed by default. Run these commands to get you started:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`

The first command installs gcc and all the compiler utilities. The second command installs the header files for your currently running kernel. Notice that the ` is the one next to the 1 key on your keyboard.

Now you’ll want to navigate to the VM \ Install VMware Tools menu:

This will mount the vmware tools in Ubuntu so that you can begin the install. To install the tools, run the following commands:

cp /cdrom/*.gz /tmp/

cd /tmp

tar xvzf VM*.gz

cd vmware*

sudo ./vmware-install.pl

Select all of the defaults. It will prompt you that you need to compile the module for your system. Select yes and continue.

When you are all done, reboot your virtual machine, and that’s all there is to it.

Hi, I’m using VMware Server Console v. 1.02 and ubuntu 7.04. The host OS is Windows Vista.
I get the following error message whenever i run the VMware Tools install

If you wish to have the shared folders feature, you can install the driver by running vmware-config-tools.pl again after making sure that gcc, binutils, make and the kernel sources for your running kernel are installed on your machine. These packages are available on your distribution’s installation cd.

The rest of the vmware tools install fine but i really want the shared folders feature. Any advice would be appreciated.

I am a newbie to Linux and Kubuntu. I am trying it out as a VM running as a guest under a WinXP Pro SP2 host.

I think I have installed VMWare Tools in Kubuntu 7.04 correcly, and after a bit of searching I found it listed in the following location:

System Settings – Advanced – System Services

as ‘not running’ but with a cross in the ‘start on boot’ option – I am guessing that a cross means to run on boot rather than don’t run on boot since there is no way of getting a tick in that box (that I can find).

I am also guessing that this is analagous to WinXP’s ‘services’?

Not sure if relavent, but the run mode is ‘Multi-user Mode(2)’.

I have rebooted the VM a few times, but I cannot seem to get the VMWare Tools to run automatically, nor will it start when when I click on ‘Start’ in the services app.

Thanks for the great how-to and to the others that contributed…it certainly helped me.

Took me a minute but I figured it out and thought it may help other n00bs;
when you copy from /cdrom and you get errors make sure to unmount and run the vmware tools installation again (VM->Install Vmware tools).

I have problem with installing VMware tools on Ubuntu7.10 on vm5.5.0. First, it complained that /usr/src/linux/include did not exist, so I followed the advice above and linked it to linux-headers-`uname -r`. I also tried to run 2 commands:
sudo make oldconfig
sudo make prepare
the first went through fine, while the second failed quickly with the following error:
make[1]: *** No rule to make target `arch/i386/kernel/asm-offsets.c’, needed by `arch/i386/kernel/asm-offsets.s’. Stop.
I ran sudo ./vmware-install.pl again, and this time I got the following error message, which I don’t know how to fix:
The directory of kernel headers (verstion @@VMWARE@@ UTS_RELEASE) does not match your running kernel (version 2.6.22-14-generic). Even if the module were to compile successfully, it would not load into the running kernel.

To FIX:
The directory of kernel headers (verstion @@VMWARE@@ UTS_RELEASE) does not match your running kernel (version 2.6.22-14-generic). Even if the module were to compile successfully, it would not load into the running kernel

This tutorial was extremely helpful and has worked for me in nine out of ten Linux distributions I’ve tried under VMware Workstation! Thanks HTG for providing us with consistently high quality information!

I’ve done almost everything to get the package installed, but still is sending me an error when it ask for a c compiler. i’ve tried to find almost anything and i can’t find a c compiler for kubuntu 6.06 amd64.
it ask for the following:
“what i sthe location of the directory of c header files that match your running kernel? [/usr/src/linux/include]
i even installed the kernell headers, and they are located under:
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.15-29-amd64-k8

and it still send the error. i’m just lost. any help will be greatly appreciated.

Have tried all of this … having a nightmare.
Ubunutu Server 10 install hangs on VMWare Workstation at the install VMWare Tools stage.
I left it for a day and it just sat there and did nothing. Have started over three times.
When I follow all the clever ideas above, I find that get nothing under /cdrom. yes, if I change to that directory I find zero files in it.
The ISO image for Ubuntu Server in set up as the CDROM in the VM config.
What am I doing wrong….?

Thank you so much, I hit the wall of concrete because my Ubuntu 10.10 server was installed without the build-essentials and so the vmhgfs module was not there.
After re-running the vmware-config-tools.pl the module got compiled and loaded and the shares defined in VMWare setup of this machine were linked into /mnt/hgfs/

Why do people want to use a system that requires everything run as a command line. It is 2011 now, 10 years into the 21st Century and they are still making systems that require command line. SMFH. No wonder why Windows has 99.9% of the market.

You can install tools for the Ubuntu 10.10 VM from the Ubuntu repositories.

sudo aptitude install open-vm-tools open-vm-toolbox open-vm-dkms

Wait for the install to finish, and reboot, and you should have a VM working with tools. Be sure to remove the open-vm-dkms package if you ever upgrade from one version of Ubuntu to another (you can install it again once the upgrade is complete) — if it is installed during the upgrade, it will try to compile the tools kernel modules against the wrong kernel, fail, and thus cause the entire upgrade to fail.